Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Fireflies Glow Bright In SAL All-Star Game

The
Columbia Fireflies hosted the SAL All-Star Game at Spirit Communications Park
Tuesday night and the hometown players stole the show. The game ended early in
a 3-3 tie due to rain, but that’s fine since no one really cares about the outcome of a minor league All-Star Game
anyway. The threat of rain kept some fans away, which is too bad, because there
was a lot of good pitching talent on display in this one. After the game was
called due to rain in the 8th, Dash Winningham was awarded with the
MVP award for his performance at the plate and in the field.

Columbia
officially had six players named as All-Stars this year: Jordan Humphreys,
Merandy Gonzalez, Michael Paez, Dash Winningham, Max Kuhns, and Adonis Uceta.
In addition, Manager Jose Leger, pitching coach Jonathan Hurst, and strength
coach Tanner Miracle were named to the coaching staff. Four of the Columbia
players participated in the contest Tuesday night, but Jordan Humphreys and Max
Kuhns were unavailable.

Among qualified pitchers, Humphreys
led the SAL in ERA, FIP, xFIP, K/BB, and AVG allowed during the first half,
plus he was 2nd in K%, 3rd in swinging strike rate, 4th
in BB%, 7th in HR/9 and popup rate induced, and tied for 15th
in IP. Statistically, Humphreys was the best starter in the SAL during the
first half of the season, but his last start was Friday, so the Mets obviously
didn’t want him throwing stressful pitches on an off day. Max Kuhns was placed
on the DL on 6/12, which is why Uceta was added to the roster (although he
definitely deserved the spot anyway).

While Humphreys was the best
starter in the SAL during the first half, Merandy Gonzalez was one of a few
guys in the conversation for second best starter, and those two combined are
the main reason Columbia started the season 40-28 (the Fireflies went 10-1
behind both starters!). Merandy was named SAL player of the month for April,
when he threw 28.2 scoreless innings, and his great season earned him the
starting nod in this exhibition. Gonzalez needed just seven pitches during his
one inning of work, and he finished the 1st with a strikeout of
James Nelson.

Swinging strike

His strikeout

The punch out slowed down

Both
Fireflies position players started in the heart of the SAL South All-Stars
lineup, and both contributed during the teams 1st inning scoring
outburst. Michael Paez has been the most consistent hitter in Columbia’s lineup
all season, and while he may be undersized at just 5’9, he can pack a big punch
to the pull side, which is why he’s tied for 1st in doubles and is
top-15 in homeruns. For the season, he has a 150 wRC+ and a .219 ISO in 263 PA,
which would be the best ISO for a Mets prospect with that many PA in A-ball
since Travis Taijeron was in Savannah during the 2012 season. Batting third in
the lineup, Paez came up with a runner on base in the 1st and he
lined a single into CF.

Dash
Winningham was fifth in the SAL South All-Stars lineup and came up with two on
and two outs in the 1st. He’s repeating the level and statistically
doesn’t appear to have made huge gains from last season, but he’s really
cleaned up his swing mechanics this year and he’s been much better after an
April slump: 149 PA, 8 2B, 10 HR, 32 RBI, 34 K: 9 BB, .280 ISO, 137 wRC+. He
basically earned the MVP award in his first AB, as he drove a two run double
over Jake Ring’s head to give the South a 2-0 lead.

Although
neither position player added any more hits, Dash did draw a walk his next time
up and contributed in the field.

As
mentioned, there was a lot of good pitching in this game, as the two sides
combined for 21 K: 2 BB and just 12 H allowed over 14 IP. Three of those hits
were singles that came against Adonis Uceta in the 7th, but those
hits led to nothing for the North squad, and two of those hits didn’t even
leave the infield. Uceta has been one of the toughest pitchers to hit in the
SAL this year, ranking 10th in swinging strike rate among all
pitchers with at least 30 IP, and holding batters to a 70% contact rate. That
type of swing-and-miss dominance has allowed him to come into tough situations
and strand base runners (he’s stranded 14 of 16 base runners this year), or come
in at the end of the game to close out Cola wins (he’s 6-6 on save
opportunities). Uceta has a fastball that’s been 93-96 this year, and mixes in
a promising changeup, so there’s major league upside for this minor league
reliever. Those three singles led to nothing against Uceta because he struck
out the other three batters he faced in the inning: Ty Moore, Trae Arbet, and
Joel Booker.

Warmup

K #1

K #2

K #3

This
game wasn’t the only event held at Spirit Communications during the SAL
All-Star break, as there was a celebrity softball game and a homerun derby held
there Monday night. Both Michael Paez and Dash Winningham participated in the
event, and the Fireflies offered a free live stream online. I haven’t seen a
MiLB.com archive or YouTube video of the derby posted anywhere yet, so I don’t
have as much action as I would’ve liked, but it’s still better than nothing.

Jose Leger pitched to Paez and he hit
five homer’s in the first round to advance, but was eliminated after just one
homer in the second round.

Jonathan Hurst pitched to Dash, and
while Dash hit a number of shots to the warning track, only one of his hits
went over the wall, so he was eliminated after the first round.